Now Arsenal Have A Goalkeeping Crisis?

byDavidonOctober 20, 2014

This is getting ridiculous. First a poor summer transfer policy left Arsenal woefully short of defenders, and now we hear that Arsenal will be forced to play their third choice goalkeeper in Wednesday’s Champions League match with Anderlecht.

With first-choice keeper Wojciech Szczesny suspended for getting sent off in MatchDay 2 against Galatasaray, and his backup David Ospina unavailable due to injury, U21 goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will be thrown into the first-team firing line in Belgium with academy goalkeeper Ryan Huddart likely to be named on the bench.

How can this be happening at Arsenal?

To compound the defensive problems facing the Arsenal, Laurent Koscielny and Mathieu Debuchy are already ruled out of the Anderlecht match, meaning that Arsene Wenger is likely to have to bring 19-year-old Hector Bellerin into the starting XI for Wednesday’s tie.

This is a recipe for disaster for Arsenal. You can get away with a young inexperienced goalkeeper if you have a solid back line in front of him. But when you match that inexperienced goalkeeper with a makeshift back four, that is really risky, especially in a match that Arsenal cannot afford to lose.

When the draw was made, it looked like Arsenal and Dortmund would be the two sides that progress from the group. After losing in Germany on MatchDay 1, Arsenal cannot afford to fall further behind Dortmund with another loss here, if they are to retain any help of finishing first in their group.